Stop producing job seekers, train students on entrepreneurship –Don, Prof. Okonkwo to Universities

Professor of Entrepreneurship Studies, Obiora Okonkwo, has challenged Nigerian universities to prioritise entrepreneurship and practical skills development, saying graduates must be prepared to create jobs rather than depend solely on paid employment.

Okonkwo, who made the call at the 15th convocation ceremony of Veritas University, Abuja, advocated the integration of entrepreneurship education into all academic departments, including medicine, law, engineering and the sciences.

He said the country’s higher education system must move beyond the award of certificates to equipping students with the knowledge, skills and mindset required to become self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to national development.

Prof. Okonkwo maintained that entrepreneurship should not be treated as a peripheral discipline but as a core subject for every university student, irrespective of their course of study.

According to him, medical students should be equipped with the entrepreneurial knowledge to establish private practices, while law graduates should understand the business opportunities within their profession.

He also urged researchers to consider the commercial viability of their innovations, noting that research outcomes capable of attracting investors would help universities transform discoveries into practical solutions.

In a statement he signed, Prof Okonkwo said, “The entrepreneurship I am advocating should not just be a by-pass discipline. It should be a core subject that must be made available to all the students in every department.

“So, if you are studying medicine, you are thinking of entrepreneurship for medicine. What if tomorrow you want to be a private practitioner? If you are going to law school, even if in the science department, these researchers will be able to think of the entrepreneurial aspect of their research outcome,” he said.

He advised universities to prepare graduates to become self-employed and employers of labour rather than depend exclusively on the availability of paid employment, arguing that the quality of education should not be measured merely by the number of graduates produced but by the knowledge, skills, moral values and sense of responsibility they acquire.

“I am a professor of entrepreneurship, so I am not just in the theory aspect; I am also in the practice. I have seen the ups and downs and different things happen.

“If you are in school and you are able to have an idea of how things work in the business world, that is why, after my first and second degrees with first-class distinction, I have never been an employed person after my graduation. I had set up my business even while I was in school,” he said.

Okonkwo, however, acknowledged that entrepreneurship was not necessarily the career path for every graduate, adding that he was willing to guide students interested in establishing businesses.

He also advocated stronger collaboration between universities and industries, particularly through internship programmes that expose students to practical experience before graduation.

He described internships as critical to bridging the gap between classroom learning and workplace demands, disclosing that his convocation lecture on entrepreneurship education at another university had been adopted as a policy document, with a committee established to study its recommendations and determine how they could be implemented across universities.

Congratulating the graduating students, he urged them to leverage the knowledge and experience acquired at the university to pursue their professional aspirations and contribute to society.